Science Fiction Aficionados discussion

My sister still lives in Tennessee, but she works for a high-end (translation: stupidly to the point of disgustingly expensive) interior design firm. While this is nice because it means I can come hang out with her when she's asked to cat sit in one of the partners' very nice apartment in Chelsea it's proven to be frustrating because it feels like we've ended up doing a lot of her stuff like shopping and walking through furniture stores with what to me is absurd pricing for stuff that looks like it came from Ikea only to have her talk about how the place is their bottom-of-the-barrel place of last resort and talked about how her firm gave up their 40% markup to reach a client's price because "we just couldn't bring ourselves to put in an Ikea sofa."

/rant

tl;dr My sister's passive-aggressively taken over my trip and become a snob.

OMG! My ex and I used to work with pricey designers doing custom designs for them. I'm talking about one designer commanding a quarter of a million to do interior design. We would see people in Greenwich, CT such as a lone couple with a huge mansion and servants, pouring tons of money on decorating the home. The sense of perception is so skewered and twisted in people who have too much money to burn, and the people who cater to them.

Yeah...I was unaware that $300,000 sofas existed until my sister mentioned one. Her first official project after they hired her from her internship was a "little" one. $6,000,000 on a lake house and I think that was only redoing part of it. It wasn't the primary home either and the owners had decided not to spend much.

I can say this with complete accuracy; my frustration is not inspired by jealousy. Even if I were creative in that way, I would never want to go through her undergrad program, I would not enjoy working with the sort of people to whom these things are normal, and they pay her absolute and total shit. She's almost literally just working for the name on her resume.

Denae, realize that your sister is caught up in the delusion and status of it all. She's also in the position where she's trying to impress. She's held hostage by the glamour and status. Kind of a Stockholm syndrome. LOL The funny thing is that it is because the rich that they cater to have so much money, that the people working for them inflated their prices so much. It's a perceived value perception. It's strange to me because I had a very humble beginning, since my mom was a single unwed mother in Vietnam. We lived in a 11" X 11" room containing a wooden bed with mosquito neting, one bureau that holds all of our possession, and a small table that holds a kerosene lamp. I always hold my humble beginning in my mind so that I don't get caught up in the thought that what you own is the end all. A lot of people think their life is over if they don't have this or that, but in reality you can actually live on very little. A lot of people in the world do.

Oh, I know and I won't worry unless she starts refusing to stop at Goodwill. ;)

Your example certainly brings home just how material oriented we are as a culture. It's easy to lose sight of that.

It creates a society of whiners. LOL I can't stand whiners. I throw them in my stew pot.

If anyone wants a different Sci-fi series that's pure Science Fiction and very good. There is the "Coyote" series by Allen Steele. The first one is . I liked them.

I finished Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban last night and I started The Summer I Died this morning.

I like SciFi that has a philosophical bent to it. Somebody suggested one to me, but I can't recall. I can't even remember who suggested it to me. I think I have too much aluminum in my brain. I have to stop eating people while they're having their hair dyed. I thought it would be the best way to catch them unaware.

3/4 done with Epic 3: Hero, loved the other 2 in the series.

I sat here for a minute trying to think of a book Aloha would like and for some reason keep thinking Oryx and Crake, lol

Now I KNOW you like that one

geesh Maggie

All the SciFi Aficionados around here and nobody can think of any other book for me besides Oryx & Crake? Geesh!

Thanks, anyway, Maggie. LOL

Aloha, how about Coyoteby Allen Steele?

I think I have a review on it.

ok, I know did you read Perdido Street Station yet?

It sounds like a fun book to read, Hugh, but I'm looking for something depressing and full of suffering that you either have to get philosophical or commit suppuku. I don't see those colonists committing suppuku.

Have you read Space Odyssey 2001?

Thank you, too, Hugh.

Anything for you Aloha.

I have not read Perdido nor 2001: A Space Odyssey. They're both on my list to read. Oh, wait a minute, we're going to be reading The Day of the Triffids in September. Now, that's what I'm looking for! Right under our noses.

But there was an author that was recommended by one of my friends, who I don't remember. It's a guy who told me that this author is SciFi and philosophical. Maybe I should send out an eMail to every one of my Friend to see who it was, all 240+ of them. Can you tell I can't say No? LOL

I couldn't till now but... no objection about non-nay-saying here.

I have seen the movie 2001 A Space Odyssey but have not read the book, the movie had way too little dialogue. It's still a Kubrick movie so it's not bad.

I love that movie. I'm curious how the book compares to it.

It's cool, I think the book is so much more complete it's better than the movie, but not so different from the movie (sans the movie cuts some corners and the philosophic ending is left out (obscured).

and you'll have to excuse me, I'm watching Tangled with the kids. I love the horse...

I like "A World Out of Time" by Larry Niven too. It's one of my all time favorites.

I don't know what happened, but I blinked and Aloha Jr. is suddenly too cool to watch those type of movies. In the past, she would be watching a movie like that again and again. Now, she's into Jim Carrey. She kept on nagging me to watch Yes Man. I did last night at midnight and I laughed so hard. I'd forgotten how funny he was.

I mean Tangled, that is, not "A World Out of Time."

I make that mistake all the time too, it's okay. And I like "How to Train Your Dragon" and Tangled. Call me an old softie. My Daughter is 6 so she's "in the zone" when she's watching her Princesses.

So far, I have not met a stage I don't like. Every stage that Aloha Jr.'s been in, I absolutely love. But around the age of 3-6, they just melt your heart.

How was Rammer, the first in the series?

Yea, she melts my heart... and always calls me "the best Daddy EVER!" (sigh)

I'm not sure about Rammer, but there is also The Draco Tavern.

Some good philosophic tales in there.

Hmmm. That's one Niven I don't have. I'll add it to my to-read. Thanks, Hugh.

NP... if you love it, remember me. If you hate it... I don't know where that came from!

LOL. Count on my aluminum saturated brain, Hugh!

Aluminum... I bet that's easy to carry, and doesn't rust. I've got a "Carbon Steel" brain.. which is pretty much a guarantee it's going to rust.

And yet another Larry Niven Book, co-authored by Steven Barnes, is Dream Park.. not particularly philosophical but not a bad read. (near Future)

I have that one. I also now have the audio of The Draco Tavern. Thanks, Hugh, for the recommendations. I collected books and cooked enough food to last for the whole hurricane weekend! Multi-tasking is so easy nowadays.

I'm cooking tomorrow morning... what to serve the angry Gallbladder?

Good luck with your gallbladder, whether that's your gallbladder or your loving nickname for your wife. LOL

Thanks... oh, I hear the old gallbladder now. Breakfast time

Al, I put a Review on Eventjust for you... well not just for you but... it's there. (and pardon the typo's.. it's hard to type with billary collic.

Thanks, Hugh! Great review. You're full of endearment for your wife, aren't you? Since she's argumentative and bilious, I guess Gallbladder and Colic are suitable nicknames.

Your right, Al, but... mind if we don't share that point of view with her?

Mum's the word!

Aloha wrote: "It sounds like a fun book to read, Hugh, but I'm looking for something depressing and full of suffering that you either have to get philosophical or commit suppuku. I don't see those colonists com..."

Aloha, if you want depressing with no spark of joy, but tremendous writing, try The Genocides by Thomas M. Disch.
A bit like War of the Worlds, but without the happy ending.

Bingo! Now, that's my kind of book. I put it in my To Read Next category so I won't forget. Thanks, Richard.

James Tiptree, Jr. is excellent for philosophical sf of depressing mien. Her one novel Up the Walls of the World is dark though not as depressing as some of her short fiction (such as “On the Last Afternoon” or “Love Is the Plan, the Plan Is Death”). Have you tried Samuel R. Delany’s Dhalgren? Inner city depression…

Thanks, A. A. I do have Up the Walls of the World and Dhalgren. I'll put them in my reading list.

Finished The Pilo Family Circus. It's really very good for it's type of horror and writing style. I can appreciate when something is good even if I'm not into it at the moment. I think if you enjoy the writing style of Bentley Little, you will enjoy this book enormously. I'm currently into the writing style of the more fantastic Sci-Fi genre. Whether it's fantasy, sci-fi, or horror, they're related in that they all depict situations which are somewhat unreal. I don't think it's not that I'm not into horror, but some of the horror has a writing style that is not that appealing to me or has that much thought behind it but slash, gore, and weirdness. Or maybe I'm into books that uses words with a lot of syllables in them.

Maciek told me that Peter Straub is a terrific writer, in particular his book Shadowland. I'm going to read SciFi Aficionados' two September reads, The Day of the Triffids and Revelation Space, then it's a toss up between Shadowland and Neuromancer.

I'm currently reading Day of the Triffids.